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Dream turns to reality

THE dream becomes a reality for Ocean Grove bowls coach Matt Flapper when he represents Australia at this month’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Flapper, 35, departs for Scotland on Friday July 11 for a nine-day training camp in Ayr before the 2014 Commonwealth Games competition kicks off in Glasgow on July 23.
Flapper joins fellow Australian lawn bowlers Brett Wilkie (Queensland), Nathan Rice (Queensland), Wayne Ruediger (South Australia) and Aaron Sheriff (NSW) in a five-man squad.
The current Bacchus Marsh resident said it was a honour to represent his country.
“If you had’ve said to me five years ago that I would be playing for Australia in the Commonwealth Games in 2014, I would have said ‘you are kidding yourself’,” Flapper told the Voice last week.
“My journey that I’ve had over the last three or four years, I have made a lot of inroads in making that opportunity a possibility – it came true.
“It has been a lot of hard work – I am not content in just being picked for the Commonwealth Games. I want to go and give it my all and make the most of the opportunity that I have got. To be one of the five bowlers to represent Australia is overwhelming.”
The decorated local champion thanked his employer Ocean Grove Bowling Club for its ongoing support in the lead up to the games.
Flapper donned the Australian green and gold in last year’s one-off test against Malaysia on the Club Grove greens.
“They (Ocean Grove Bowling Club) backed me 100 per cent, every time I go away to play for Australia. I am wearing the name of the club on the back,” Flapper said.
The 2014 Commonwealth Games runs from July 23 to August 4.